Effective Impact Increase Strategy through Successful INGO and NGO Partnerships in the Water and Sanitation Sector:

A Nepal Case Study

Thalia KonarisSupervisor: Dr. Richard Fenner

15th July ‘09 Centre for Sustainable Development

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

Introduction

Aim To investigate criteria for successful partnerships between

international NGOs and in country NGOs for the purpose of international development and poverty alleviation

Focus Partnership: CAWST (Canada) & ENPHO (Nepal) Need: Assessment of CAWST’s impact expansion strategy Water and Sanitation Technologies in Nepal 7th MDG: ‘Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without

sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation’

Introduction

Themes & Motivation NGO sector: ‘Trying to do the right thing, the wrong way?'

Improving efficiency and effectiveness

Successful international cooperation: 8th MDG: 'Development of a Global Partnership for Development'

Financial security Donor priority dependency

Effective Monitoring and Evaluation of impact Learning, Quality, Accountability

NGO impact expansion strategy

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

Key Research Questions

1. What are the WatSan challenges in Nepal?

2. What is ENPHO's contribution in tackling these?

3. Organisation profile: i. Structure, focus & niche, implementation approach,

weaknesses and needs?

4. Partnership: for each CAWST & ENPHO what are the:i. Motives behind the partnership?

ii. Formal, informal agreements in place?

iii. Responsibilities and expectations of each?

5. Relationship, communication & reporting channels?

Tools Lit. Research, field work, interviews, preliminary

work with CAWST, Needs Assessment

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

Nepal & WatSan Geography

3 ecological belts: Mountain Region (Himalayas), Hill Region (Kathmandu Valley), Terai Region

High Altitude range: 300-8,800m

Demographics (World Bank data)

27.1 million (2005) 16% urban population 31% below the national poverty line GDP per capita of ~ $1,100 Kathmandu Valley, 1/3 live in slums

Political Instability Decentralisation

Nepal & WatSan

Energy Solely reliant on hydropower for electricity Less that 1% of available hydropower

utilised (potential to export to India!) Power cuts, in the dry season up to 16hrs a

day – Disruptive to business!

Air Pollution (urban) Road Congestion

Ill maintained roads Variety & state of vehicles! No traffic lights during power cuts

Poor man's fuel (adulteration) Kerosene dilution of diesel

Nepal & WatSan

Municipal Waste (urban) Only 1 landfill site in Kathmandu Political conflicts Result: 4 days old garbage uncollected

Pollution of Watercourses Municipal Waste (urban) Sewage Leakage & bad maintenance

(urban) Open defecation (rural)

National Water Plan Nepal 2005 Basic Sanitation Coverage: 20% rural,

53% urban (2001) Water Supply Coverage: 71% rural, 76%

urban (2002) Target by 2017

100% access to water supply 2017 100% access to basic sanitation

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

CAWST(Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology)

Profile: Non profit engineering consultancy and NGO based in Canada (since 2001)

Mission: 'To provide technical training and consulting

and act as a centre of expertise in water and sanitation for the poor'

Reach(Strength): Supports CBOs, local NGOs, INGOs and developing country governments in 53 countries

Focus: Household level water treatment technologies (HLWT), fairly new in Sanitation

Approach (Strength): Training & consultancy Capacity building support e.g. financial & project

management, monitoring & evaluation to support the promoted technologies

CAWST Needs

‘10 individual donors contributed 46% of our 2007 revenue. We need to increase our financial security’

‘Often we will only have 1 member of staff in charge of all our partners in a country. If they leave CAWST,

we’re stuck!’

‘We are spreading ourselves thinly. We have reduced our no. of partners to 256 but it is still logistically

difficult to coordinate from Canada’

On Resources…

CAWST Needs

‘Long term impact assessment of our operations i.e. measuring health

benefits would be very laborious and costly’

‘We need to ensure that our training is being effective and that our partners progress to implement projects’

On Monitoring and Evaluation…

‘We are a capacity building organisation. It is difficult to fundraise for capacity building. It is even harder to

measure and evaluate its impact!’

CAWST Needs

‘We currently have no long term CAWST strategy for the future with targets, milestones and an action plan’

‘Our focus is mainly on household level water treatment technologies. Sanitation is new ground for us’

On Strategy…

CAWST Current Model

Administrative challenge Far from beneficiaries High risk Difficult to communicate & monitor effectiveness Implementation can be a stab in the dark

CAWST Expansion Strategy

Benefits: Build local capacity

for training & consultancy in WatSan

Reduces administrative load for CAWST

Ensures relevant impact and continuity

More meaningful M&E

Features: Build up in country

partners into CAWST replicas

WET-Centres (Water Expertise and Training Centres)

Manage CAWST’s partnerships in the country

CAWST Expansion Strategy

Features: In country offices managed by local staff In country offices have the same org. structure as the

head office

CAWST Expansion StrategyRisks: If WET-C is a mature

organisation: Difference in

organisational structure, vision, portfolio

Friction, frustration & miscommunication

If WET-C is a young organisation: CAWST invests a lot

to build up organisation. If ineffective, affects CAWST’s impact in entire country

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

ENPHO(Environment & Public Health Organisation)

Profile: Nepal based non- profit NGO (Since 1990)

Mission: Develop and promote appropriate technologies to enable societies to become eco-friendly

Focus: Known nationwide as a centre of research and technical expertise

Pioneer & 18 years of experience: water treatment technologies

holistic waste water management

water & air quality testing

arsenic mitigation

Mobilizing Nepal government water quality, not just quantity & arsenic mitigation

Decentralised technologies

Reach (Strength): Nationwide, both rural and urban Community mobilisation - government

relies on it for rural implementation

Approach (Strength): Technical training of local entrepreneurs

and local government technicians Awareness raising of community health

promoters, journalists, school teachers, community leaders and volunteers

Communities identify their own needs, solutions and carry out their own project Monitoring and Evaluation with guidance and follow-through from ENPHO

ENPHO Needs

‘Our income has increased by 7% from last year, yet we are juggling over 40 partnerships and 30 projects

‘Like all NGOs we are dependent on donor priorities. Income generation is limited and financial

independence depends on our lab services’

‘We cannot pay high salaries thus we lose expert staff’

On Resources…

‘There are few donors willing to support capacity building. Yet it is like watering a tree at the roots’

ENPHO Needs

‘As a developing country NGO it is difficult to gain international recognition for our technologies &

methods’

‘Being an NGO there’s no competition, its tempting to just keep things going as they are’

‘We need certification of our methodologies and regional recognition’

‘We need to standardize our training to ensure efficiency and consistent quality’

On Quality…

ENPHO Needs

‘All our staff is technically trained. We lack management skills, from leaders down to staff.’

‘We lack marketing skills throughout. We need to market both up to donors and down to beneficiaries.

But we don’t know how!’

‘Our leadership is tired, and overloaded. No time to envision and strategize for the future.’

On Skills…

‘We offer flexibility & diversity to keep young staff excited. Inevitably, they leave ENPHO for further

training. Thus there is an age gap in our staff..’

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

Partnership

•CAWST wants to increase impact without expanding

•To maintain a global presence but also to come closer to their partners and beneficiaries in order to monitor and

assist•To build global in country capacity for training and consultancy in water and

sanitation

Building up WET-Centers will initiate this process

•ENPHO wants to become a LEARNING CENTRE in Nepal, not just a training and

research centre. •To provide academic job opportunities for their expert staff, development for their young staff and to spread their

WatSan knowledge throughout Nepal

Becoming a CAWST WET-Centre is a platform on which to develop this

SHARED FUTURE VISION

Contents

Introduction Key Research Questions Water & Sanitation in Nepal CAWST

Needs Expansion strategy

ENPHO Needs

Partnership Preliminary Recommendations

Preliminary Recommendations For a successful partnership: PROCESS of developing partnership is key:

Buy-in, shared vision, TRUST, formal and informal relationships

Each WET-Centre will need to be approached differently depending the maturity, character, structures and the location of the organisation

FLEXIBILITY in the partnership for opportunities to be explored together Recognition by the INGO especially, that partnership is a 2 WAY PROCESS.

Both learn, both develop Clear understanding of the motives and expectations behind the

partnership through TRANSPARENT communication CAWST->ENPHO: quality & credibility, development & standardisation of

training material, marketing & management skills, international network ENPHO->CAWST: Exemplary M&E practices, diversification of portfolio

and implementation methods especially in Sanitation

Thank You!

• Dr. Richard Fenner• Steve Kaczmer & Tommy Ka Kit Ngai (CAWST)• Betman Bhandari!! (CAWST)• Bipin Dangol!! (ENPHO)• Ian Steed (Humanitarian Centre)• Stephen Hunt (Practical Action)• CAWST, ENPHO, Practical Action Nepal• EWB-UK , Selwyn College

Partnership

SHARED Technologies

Bio-sand Filter

SODIS

Boiling

0.5% Chlorine Solution (ENPHO product)

POU (Point of Use) Philosophy